


Museum Mayhem

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: (super) suit and tie [3]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: M/M, Parent Jack Kelly, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-03
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:34:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26268070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: “Call and Echo holding the natural history museum hostage,” says Jack. “I don’t know why, but Racer – fuck, Tony, Sawyer’s there. On a field trip.”
Relationships: Racetrack Higgins & Jack Kelly, Racetrack Higgins/David Jacobs
Series: (super) suit and tie [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1906060
Comments: 33
Kudos: 51





	Museum Mayhem

**Author's Note:**

> I am having a BLAST with this superhero au, guys. This one features a little more actual superheroing!

It takes Tony a few seconds to realize that the phone that’s ringing isn’t his _Tony Jacobs_ phone. It’s the Race phone.

On a Thursday afternoon.

Shit.

“Hello?” he answers, trying to keep his voice steady. “Race speaking.”

“ _Fuck, thank God. Racer, I need’ja help,”_ Impulse’s voice says. He sounds shaken. 

“Pulse?” Tony says, instantly concerned. “Is something wrong?”

“ _You know Call and Echo, right? The Delancey brothers?”_

Local supervillains, much more genuinely evil than Jack. Tony’s only had to face them as Race a few times, but they don’t pull their punches.

“Of course I do, why?”

“ _They’re holding the natural history museum hostage,”_ says Jack. “ _I don’t know why, but Racer – fuck, Tony, Sawyer’s there. On a field trip.”_

“Shit, really?” says Tony. Just their fucking luck – David’s there, too, doing studies for that weird dinosaur commission he has coming up. “Jack, where are you?”

“ _Home._ ”

“I can be there in twenty. Get’cha suit on, guess we’re goin’ to see some dinos.”

_“Flare didn’t answer his phone – he gonna meet us someplace?”_

“Uh, no.” Tony takes a deep breath. “He’s actually, uh, at the museum, too. He won’t be able to help us.”

“ _Shit.”_

“No kidding. See you soon, pal.”

Tony hangs up and starts getting himself together. Supersuit on, boots on, mask on, utility belt stocked and on.

 _Shit_ , he’s going to have to drive to Jack’s. Usually David uses his little flight trick to get them around fast – David can’t move _himself_ with his telekinesis, but he’s gotten really good at flying his boots around with his feet still in them, and can even bring Tony with him.

Mask off, then, and a jacket and sweatpants thrown over the supersuit so he doesn’t draw too much attention.

Just in case, he texts David twice – once to his David phone, once to his Flare phone.

_Sawyer Kelly is there. Find them._

Cell reception at the natural history museum is shit at the best of times – the natural history museum being an _enormous_ old building made of thick stone walls – but Tony is holding out hope that maybe, maybe a text can punch through. At the very least from the Race phone to the Flare phone, which Tony has done a lot of modification work on.

The extra shitty thing is that even if he knew what was going on and that they were coming, David wouldn’t be able to help them. He doesn’t have his suit or his contacts with him, and even if he did there wouldn’t be a good place to change.

Which means that this is down to Race.

And, weirdly, Impulse.

Tony pulls up out front of Jack’s building, making quick work of parking and then slightly frantically ringing Jack’s doorbell.

“ _Tony?”_

 _“_ Yeah, Jackie, let me in.”

The door buzzes, and Tony bounds up the stairs, taking them two and three at a time. When he gets up to 3S, Jack is waiting in the doorway. He steps aside to let Tony in, and even as he walks through the door Tony’s peeling off his outer layers to reveal his supersuit.

Jack is already wearing his – the new one Buttons designed for him, rather than his usual outfit of mostly just regular clothes. Tony is distantly aware that it looks _good_ , and it’ll look good in press photos of their fights. Impulse’s new look is sort of the reverse of Flare and Race’s – where their suits are both dark with almost blindingly bright pops of color, his is a clear bright blue with pitch black accents.

Now’s not the time to get hung up on supersuits, though.

Tony folds up his clothes and sets them on a side table, then presses his mask to his face.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Like an hour ago,” says Impulse. “Are you okay with me carrying you? It’ll be fastest.”

“Yes,” Race says. “I trust you.”

“Good, ‘cause we’ve gotta get there quick.”

\--

David is uncomfortably aware of Call and Echo wreaking chaos in the main hall of the museum.

He’s upstairs, near a balcony that overlooks the main hall, and completely unable to do anything significant. He’s been playing a little bit with them to try to keep them distracted from doing too much damage, but there’s only so much he can do without revealing himself.

His work phone dings.

_From: Race_

_Sawyer Kelly is there. Find them._

Well, shit.

David sets to creeping through the upper level, hoping against hope that Sawyer – and, presumably, their class – will be upstairs and not deeper in the museum in a place that would be harder for David to reach.

He gets incredibly lucky, which in David’s profession is rare. He’s working his way through an upper level exhibition, when he finds a large group of kids with a handful of adults. A field trip group if David’s ever seen one.

And sure enough, there in the middle of it is a kid who’s almost certainly Jack’s child.

“Sawyer?” David says, tentatively approaching the group.

Sawyer’s head whips around, those big grey eyes meeting David’s. “Davey!”

They bolt away from the group, meeting David in the middle and throwing their arms around his waist.

“Hey, little bug,” says David, using the nickname Tony gave them after an extended conversation about entomology a few weeks ago. He’s slightly surprised by the degree of Sawyer’s reaction, but then again – this must be a strange, scary situation for them, and David is both familiar and very safe. He pats the top of their head.

“What are you doing here?” Sawyer says, stepping back. There’s a subtle emphasis on _you_ that David isn’t sure exactly how to answer in front of so many people who don’t know he’s Flare.

“I’ve got a project coming up I need to practice dinosaurs for,” David says, hoping Sawyer will pick up that that means David was _already here_ when Call and Echo showed up. He ruffles Sawyer’s hair. “I’ll show you when it’s done, how about?”

“That’d be cool,” says Sawyer.

“Excuse me,” one of the adults from Sawyer’s group says, approaching them. “Who _are_ you?”

“Right, I’m sorry, this must seem weird,” says David. He holds a hand out for the woman to shake. “I’m David Jacobs, I’m friends with Sawyer’s dad, Jack. I was here doing studies for a commission when everything went to pieces – I’ve been trying to find somewhere with cell signal for a while now. Found you guys instead.”

“Well, I’m Sawyer’s teacher, Laurel Smalls,” the woman replies, shaking David’s hand. “I’m inclined to believe you’re telling the truth, since Sawyer clearly knows you.”

“Well, thank you,” says David. “Is everybody okay?”

“A little shaken up, but fine. I wish we knew what was going on.”

David makes a show of checking his phone. “Oh – I must’ve had service for a second somewhere, I’ve got a text from my husband. He says he saw Race heading our way, so hopefully this’ll all be over soon.”

“Just Race?” one of the other kids says. “Not Flare?”

“That’s what he said,” says David, who is lying through his teeth but knows Race _must_ be on his way. Tony wouldn’t just not show if he knew David _and Sawyer_ were in potential danger.

“Weird,” says another kid. “I’ve never heard’a just one’a them showin’ up.”

“Well maybe Flare’s doin’ something he can’t get away from,” Sawyer says, crossing their arms. They don’t even look up at David as they say it. “Maybe he’s at work or something.”

“Maybe he wears glasses and doesn’t have his contacts with him,” David interjects, elbowing Sawyer.

Sawyer looks up at him, rolling their eyes. “That’s kinda dumb, Davey.”

“You don’t know,” says David, winking.

All the lights cut out.

“Seems like the cavalry’s arrived,” says David, because honestly what a Race move. “I’m gonna go check out what’s going on, I’ll be back.”

“Davey -“ Sawyer says, high and panicked.

David drops to one knee in front of Sawyer, just able to see them in the dull emergency lighting. “Stay with your class, Sawyer. I’ll be right back.”

“Davey, I’m scared,” Sawyer says quietly. “Call and Echo _hurt_ people.”

“I know,” says David. “ I know. But they’re not gonna hurt you and they’re not gonna hurt your friends, you know why?”

“Why?”

“Cause I’m gonna protect you, bug. Do you trust me to do that?”

Sawyer nods.

David pats their shoulder. “Good. I’ll be right back.”

\--

Race feels a familiar tug on his sleeve.

Then, two tugs in quick succession.

“Flare,” he says under his breath.

“Huh?” says Impulse, who’s standing back-to-back with Race.

“I don’t know where, and I’m not gonna go lookin’ just in case Call and Echo notice and spot’im, too, but Flare can see us,” Race says quietly.

Impulse’s arm jerks away from him. “Wait, shit, something just touched my sleeve. Was that Flare? I’ve seen him do that sleeve tug on you, like, a bajillion times. Is that what that _feels_ like?”

“Yeah, that was him,” says Race, chuckling a little despite the tense situation.

“It was two little pulls in a row,” says Impulse. “Does that mean something?”

“Two sleeve tugs means _I’m okay_ ,” says Race. “But he just did it to me, why would he – you don’t even know –“ He snaps his fingers a few times, thinking. “Oh, duh! He must’a found Sawyer. He’s tugging you because _Sawyer_ is okay.”

“God, I love Flare,” Impulse says, grinning.

Race taps his finger against the bare skin of Impulse’s hand, giving him a light shock. “He’s taken. Now let’s get focused.”

\--

David creeps back to Sawyer’s class deeper in the exhibit, having passed along his message to Race.

“Good news,” David announces to the group at large, “Race is here working on Call and Echo, and he brought backup!”

“Flare?” a handful of voices ask in near unison.

“No, better,” David says, trying to keep his tone light. “Impulse.”

“ _Impulse_?” one of the adult chaperones says incredulously. “The supervillain?”

“The very same,” says David. He finds Sawyer again in the dark. “Seems like putting innocent families and kids in danger crossed a moral line for him.”

Sawyer grins up at David. “Somehow, I’m not surprised.”

\--

“You turnin’ sides on us, Pulsey?” Echo taunts. “Teamin’ up with Racer?”

“You wound me,” says Impulse. “First of all, I’m just here to make sure Race comes out in one piece on the other side. I can’t afford to lose my hard earned nemesis to you two bein’ dumbasses. Second of all, there’s kids here. You don’t hurt kids, Morris.”

“Sure we do,” says Call. “And anybody else who gets in our way.”

He punctuates that statement with a hard punch to Race’s stomach, which earns him a much less playful shock than the one Race gave Impulse earlier.

“Fuckin’ zap me again, see what happens,” Call snaps. He’s got a tight grip on Race’s shoulder, and Race takes him up on the offer, channeling as much electricity as he can into the point of contact.

It sends Call sprawling to the ground. Nothing lethal, of course, but it was an effective shock to his system.

“Looks like that’s what happens,” says Race.

Impulse laughs. “Oh, man, you’re funny when you’re sassing people who aren’t me.”

“You think I’m funny when I’m sassing you, too,” Race points out. “Could you do something about Echo, or do I have to do everything around here?”

“Ah, right,” says Impulse. He kicks off of the ground and launches himself at Echo, pinning him down next to his brother on the marble floor. “How’s this?”

“Could make a hero of you yet, Impulse,” says Race.

Impulse makes an indignant but indistinct noise at the back of his throat. “How _dare_ you –“

Race snorts. “Hey, so, we got people on the way to pick these two up.” He kicks Echo’s foot, sending a shock through him as well. “If you wanna make yourself scarce. Don’t wanna go ruinin’ your reputation.”

“Good point,” says Impulse. “I’m sure you won’t leave ‘till you’ve had eyes on –“ he breaks off, glancing at Call and Echo.

“I won’t,” Race says, nodding. “Both of them.”

“Thanks, Racer.”

\--

It takes everything David has not to bolt for Race as soon as he sees him. This is an odd situation – where David is David, but Tony is Race. Usually they’re either both in their superhero persona or neither is.

Instead, he approaches much more slowly, with Sawyer by his side as they pull away a little from Sawyer’s school group.

“Race,” David says, trying to sound casual. “We wanted to thank you for arriving so quickly. Call and Echo could’ve done a lot of damage.”

“It’s the job,” Race replies. David can see his husband’s eyes scanning both him and Sawyer, making sure they’re both whole and unharmed. “Just a shame Flare couldn’t make it.”

“I’m sure he was busy keeping somebody else safe,” says Sawyer, leaning on David a little.

“I’m sure he was,” says Race. “Are you okay, little bug?”

“I’m okay,” Sawyer says softly.

“Good,” Race says, nodding firmly. “Seems like you had somebody good lookin’ out for you.”

David smiles. He gives a subtle double tug on Race’s sleeve.

Race nods again.

\--

“Fuck, Davey-love, I was so worried,” Tony says as soon as David walks through their front door, throwing himself at his husband in a bone-crushing hug.

“ _You_ were worried?” says David. “You? I was fine, I was hiding in an exhibit with a class of fifth graders. _You_ were going up against the two biggest dicks we know _by yourself_!”

“I wasn’t by myself –“

“Yeah, well, forgive me for not _expecting_ Jack to tag along.”

“Sawyer was there,” says Tony. “Of course Jack came. He was real shook up.”

“Yeah,” says David. “So was Soy, to be honest. I’m still not sure exactly how much Jack tells them about work, but they knew Call and Echo. They knew they’re dangerous.”

“As well they should,” says Tony. “F’you’re gonna raise a kid as a supervillain, they’ve gotta know who their allies are.”

“And Sawyer does,” David says, nodding. “They were stuck to me like glue as soon as I found their class.” He leads Tony over to the couch and they sit, still a tangle of intertwined limbs. “I don’t take for granted the level of trust Jack has in us.”

“It’s kinda wild, when you think about it,” Tony says. “I mean. David. I _teamed up_ with Impulse today.”

David laughs. “Yeah, when you put it like that –“

“Fuckin’ crazy!” Tony’s laughing, too. When he catches his breath again, he drops his head onto David’s shoulder. “Next time you go out for somethin’ like this, you gotta bring your suit, though, love.”

“I doubt that anything like this is ever going to happen again.”

“You can’t just _say_ that, David. Now it definitely going to happen and it's gonna be your fault."

"Yeah, darlin'. Sure."


End file.
